The ObjectAid UML Explorer for Eclipse

The ObjectAid UML Explorer is a code visualization tool for the Eclipse IDE. It shows your Java source code and libraries as UML class and sequence diagrams. The image below is a class diagram of actual source code; click on it to see the editor in the Eclipse Java Perspective.

News

Dec 27, 2011	In version 1.0.6, diagram-specific console output has been converted to markers that appear in the Problems view. Also an issue that prevented the opening of sequence diagrams in some cases has been fixed.
Dec 15, 2011	Version 1.0.5 introduces online licenses and volume-based discounts, please see the Products section for details. Online licenses make it easy to manage larger license pools. The creation of sequence diagrams from stack frames and stack traces has been simplified by showing a selection of open Sequence Diagrams when none is active. Also new call sequences are appended to the currently selected message.
July 27, 2011	Version 1.0.4 shows a hovering tooltip over lifelines in sequence diagrams, so that objects can be easily identified when scrolled down. Various bugs have been fixed as well.
June 25, 2011	Version 1.0.3 mainly fixes an issue with JDK 7/Eclipse 3.7, along with some smaller bugs.
May 26, 2011	Version 1.0.2 brings you configuration of diagram fonts and colors. In the Eclipse Preferences dialog, please go to General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts to check it out. Numerous bugs have been squashed as well, please see the Download section for details. One of the fixes prints messages into the ObjectAid Console, telling you that you should save your diagram. That is all you have to do and the message will not appear again.
Feb 25, 2011	Version 1.0.1 fixes a sequence diagram issue that prevented the reverse engineering of stack frames from the Debug view in some cases. As a consequence, the operations on some messages in existing sequence diagrams may be lost. The console view will tell you which (if any) sequence diagrams are impacted. The license encryption has been changed to support the IBM J9 JVM which is used by the IBM Rational Application Developer. Existing licenses will continue to work as before, but licenses received by any means from today on require an upgrade to version 1.0.1 because 1.0.0 cannot deal with the new licenses.
Jan 26, 2011	The Sequence Diagram Editor is now available, please see the Download section for details. To use the Sequence Diagram Editor you need a license, which you can obtain once you have created an Account. You can have one free evaluation license per account, or purchase as many user licenses as you like. The introductory price for a license is 19 USD. The Class Diagram Editor has reached version 1.0 and received mostly bug fixes. Please also note that the URL of the update site has changed.
July 21, 2010	Several of you have asked when the Sequence Diagram Editor will finally be released. The software itself is fairly complete, but a complete rewrite of the web site is taking much more time than anticipated. Currently I expect that everything should be ready before the end of year.
Dec 5, 2009	The Sequence Diagram Editor is not ready yet, but it is making good progress. In the interest of quality, it will be made available when it is ready. A new section for the Sequence Diagram gives you a first impression of the functionality.
May 15, 2009	Version 0.9.86 fixes some issues with the new automatic image save capability and adds a context menu to save the image without saving the diagram. It also makes the Class Diagram Editor compatible with Eclipse 3.2 again; saving to PNG files is not supported is 3.2.
April 2, 2009	After a slightly longer break, a new version of the Class Diagram Editor (0.9.82) is available in the Download section. It has a new diagram option now lets you save an image automatically whenever you save a diagram. ObjectAid is happy to announce the new Sequence Diagram Editor, which will be available later this year. It is the reason for the relative dearth of new features in this release of the Class Diagram Editor. The Sequence Diagram Editor will not be free, but it will be nearly as affordable. In addition to this home page, the Class Diagram section has been completely redone and an FAQ has been added.

Why another UML tool?

The ObjectAid UML Explorer is different from other UML tools. It uses the UML notation to show a graphical representation of existing code that is as accurate and up-to-date as your text editor, while being very easy to use. Several unique features make this possible:

Your source code and libraries are the model that is displayed, they are not reverse engineered into a different format.
If you update your code in Eclipse, your diagram is updated as well; there is no need to reverse engineer source code.
Refactoring updates your diagram as well as your source code. When you rename a field or move a class, your diagram simply reflects the changes without going out of sync.
All diagrams in your Eclipse workspace are updated with refactoring changes as appropriate. If necessary, they are checked out of your version control system.
Diagrams are fully integrated into the Eclipse IDE. You can drag Java classes from any other view onto the diagram, and diagram-related information is shown in other views wherever applicable.

The ObjectAid UML Explorer achieves all this while staying light, fast and easy to use. In addition, exploring code is easy because you can find and add related classes with a right-click from the context menu.

To get an impression of what the ObjectAid UML Explorer can do, please take a look at the Class Diagram section. You can also simply download it to try it out or take a look at the online help.